South China Sea: ‘external forces’ meddling in disputes, Chinese official says
- Foreign ministry boundary official says other powers have stepped up manipulation for their own ends
- Sustainable development in the waters depends on managing differences, he says
Without naming those powers, Tan Qingsheng, from the ministry’s boundary and ocean affairs department, said some external forces were provoking division among claimants of the waters for their own geopolitical motives.
“Achieving sustainable development in the South China Sea still faces many difficulties and challenges. The most prominent of these is that some foreign powers, out of their own geopolitical interests, have stepped up manipulation and involvement in disputes in the South China Sea,” Tan said in a panel discussion on the sidelines of the Boao Forum for Asia on the southern island province of Hainan.
“These foreign powers aggressively promoted military deployment and operations in the South China Sea, abused international law, disrupted negotiations on the code of conduct, and attempted to sow discord among regional countries,” he said, according to a transcript of Tan’s remarks published by China’s National Institute for South China Sea Studies.
“Countries in the region can see the dangers clearly”.
01:22
Philippines reports incident of close ‘manoeuvring’ by China coastguard ship near Scarborough Shoal
China, Vietnam, the Philippines, Malaysia, Brunei and Taiwan have overlapping claims over the resource-rich and strategically important waterway.
